Bank of Japan Expanded Risky Asset Purchase Program, Softbank Up

Nigel Thomas
27 Apr, 2012
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo closed down after an early rally faded. Bank of Japan expanded its risky asset purchase program by $124 billion as anticipated. Softbank surged more than 3% after it hiked dividend and reported a surge in operating profit.

[R]8:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo closed down after an early rally faded. Bank of Japan expanded its risky asset purchase program by $124 billion as anticipated. Softbank surged more than 3% after it hiked dividend and reported a surge in operating profit.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo trading jumped in the morning and the Bank of Japan announced more measure to support the economy but the gains quickly faded in the late afternoon.

Bank of Japan expanded its asset purchase program and said it will increase its purchase of exchange traded funds that are linked to index stocks and also increase the purchase of real estate investment trusts.

The central bank plans to increase its program by 10 trillion yen or $124 billion.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 40.94 to 9,520.89 and the broader Topix index edged down 5.83 to 804.27.

In trading, stock turnover surged to 2.19 billion shares from 1.56 billion shares in yesterday’s trading.

Stock Movers

Softbank gained 3% after it increased its dividend to 40 yen from 5 yen and reported operating profit of 675.3 billion yen or $8.3 billion in the year to March.

Kansai Electric Power Company, Inc decreased 15 yen to 1,158 yen and Tokyo Electric Power 1 yen to 200 yen.

Toyota Motor closed up 15 yen to 3,305 yen and Honda Motor Co. unchanged to 2,896 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd gained 5 yen to 836 yen.

Sony Corp dropped 11 yen to 1,316 yen. Panasonic Corp closed down 7 yen at 622 yen and Canon Inc declined 45 yen to 3,670 yen.

Nintendo Co. Ltd tumbled 630 yen to 10,840 yen after it reported its first annual operating loss and said its Wii gaming console sales are shrinking and the demand for its new 3DS handheld device is weaker than expected.

Olympus Corp closed down 7 yen to 1,260 yen, Nikon gained 12 yen to 2,393 yen and Fanuc Ltd slumped 310 yen to 13,590 yen. Hitachi Ltd fell 3 yen to 512 yen.

Komatsu Ltd dropped 24 yen to 2,315 yen and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co decreased 7 yen to 1,747 yen.

After the close yesterday, Komatsu reported operating profit of 256 billion yen for the year ending in March, lower than its earlier estimate of 282 billion yen.

Toyo Engineering Corp closed down 4 yen to 365 yen and Fanuc declined 2.2% to 13,590 yen and a day ago it estimated 3.1% decline in operating profit to 113 billion yen in the six months to September.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd fell 3 yen to 312 yen, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd increased 8 yen to 170 yen and Nippon Yusen K.K. closed up at 5 yen to 238 yen.

Nippon Electric Glass Co Ltd slipped 1.9% and Asahi Glass Co Ltd decreased 0.7% after U.S. based Corning reported better than expected earnings.

Fast Retailing Co. gained 70 yen to 17,930 yen and J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd slumped 11 yen to 412 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group fell 1 yen to 387 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group decreased 9 yen to 2,584 yen. Nomura Holdings, Inc closed down 6 yen to 330 yen.

Tokyo Tatemono Co., Ltd fell 4 yen to 298 yen and Mitsui Fudosan dropped 25 yen to 1,477 yen and Sumitomo Realty & Development Co. surged 26 yen to 1,924 yen.

Nippon Steel unchanged to 201 yen and JFE Holdings Inc rose 3 yen to 1,511 yen.